Nick Diaz: 10 Crazy Moments

Genuine Article

Nick
Diaz has not lost a welterweight fight in nearly six years. |
Photo: Sherdog.com

Few figures in MMA are as intriguing as the favorite son of
Stockton, Calif., Nick Diaz.
Inside the Octagon, his fighting style is as crowd-pleasing as they
come. Armed with exceptional heart and courage, he pushes forward
and tries to finish from the moment a fight starts until the moment
it ends. It has led to some wild and unpredictable wars.

Outside the Octagon, Diaz has been no stranger to controversy. He
has gotten into trouble with promoters, athletic commissions and
other fighters, and the sense that he could do anything at any time
only enhances his appeal. As his longtime trainer, Cesar
Gracie, put it succinctly: “You can’t out-crazy Nick Diaz.”

As Diaz fights Carlos
Condit for the interim welterweight title at UFC
143 this Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las
Vegas, he finds himself on the cusp of superstardom. UFC
“Primetime” has shined a spotlight on his unique career and
personality, introducing him to a new base of fans. A fight with
Georges
St. Pierre, should Diaz get past Condit, would take him to an
even higher level.

If Diaz does become one of the
UFC’s top stars, it will be a wild ride. Like former
heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, Diaz is simultaneously
uniquely suited for fame and uniquely unsuited for dealing with the
trappings of it. This is an entertaining but dangerous combination.
Already, it has produced no shortage of wild events. These are 10
crazy moments from Diaz’s MMA career.

When Diaz, at the age of 20, entered the Octagon for the second
time, he was known as a jiu-jitsu specialist. His fight against
Robbie
Lawler was thought to be a classic striker-versus-grappler
matchup, so it came as a shock to many when Diaz stood and traded
toe-to-toe with the slugger. The result of their battle would come
as even more of a surprise.

With pinpoint punches, Diaz got the better of early exchanges with
Lawler. Then, he began to taunt. Lifting his hands up in the air
and daring Lawler to punch him, Diaz showed no fear and gave no
hint of backing off. It seemed like a suicidal strategy against one
of the most powerful punchers in the weight class, but when Diaz
landed a looping right hand to the jaw, Lawler collapsed face first
to the canvas, and the fight was called.

Diaz had delivered one of the most memorable UFC performances of
the year. A “jiu-jitsu fighter” had stood, taunted and knocked out
one of the welterweight division’s most feared strikers. Everything
about the contest was startling, and Diaz had demonstrated the
approach to fighting that would eventually make him a champion and
star.

When the UFC showcased and made into stars a number of young
fighters on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, some prominent
veterans expressed resentment at perceived preferential treatment.
Few expressed their aggravation as loudly as Diaz did in the
lead-up to his fight with Diego
Sanchez. Diaz and Sanchez waged a war of words and even
exchanged adversarial emails prior to the bout at “The Ultimate
Fighter 2” Finale.

The tumult did not end when fight night arrived. The match between
Sanchez and Diaz took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, a
small venue in Las Vegas in which fighters wind up in close
proximity. This led to Diaz famously hurling a shoe at Sanchez
backstage as they were waiting to come out for their fight.
Unfortunately for him, the gesture would not secure Diaz the win.
Diaz landed more total strikes than Sanchez, but “The Dream”
connected with more significant strikes and received a unanimous
decision with 30-27 scores.

When Diaz fought Joe Riggs at
UFC 57, it was just another competition, and it fit a pattern of
Diaz fights at the time. He outstruck Riggs by nearly a 2-to-1
margin and was more active working for submissions on the ground,
but Riggs won the judges’ decision on the basis of takedowns. The
fight did not stand out on a night when Randy
Couture and Chuck
Liddell completed their classic trilogy.

What happened after the fight ended was a completely different
story. Diaz and Riggs were sent to the same hospital. Big mistake.
Diaz began jawing with Riggs inside the hospital, even as Riggs was
being fed fluids through an IV in his arm.

Words quickly escalated, and Diaz threw the first punch. A wild
brawl broke out in the hospital room, as the two adversaries had to
be separated by police officers. The fight was untelevised, but
hospital attendants and nurses got free front row seats.

Diaz later explained why he fought with Riggs in the hospital to
MMA Weekly Radio.

“I ain’t no bitch,” he said. “You know what I mean? That’s why I
said I’ll fight him all night. I’d fight him right now. If he were
here, I’d fight him right now.”

Pride 33 was dubbed “Second Coming” for obvious reasons, as it was
the sophomore American show for Japan’s
Pride Fighting Championships promotion. However, it could just
as easily have been a description of Diaz’s performance at the
event. Diaz burst on the scene in the Ultimate Fighting
Championship with his wins over Jeremy
Jackson and Lawler but went on to drop a series of decisions.
When Pride signed him to fight its lightweight champion, Takanori
Gomi, at Pride 33, Diaz was viewed as just another opponent. He
had dropped three of his past six fights and entered the ring as a
heavy betting underdog.

If Gomi did not take Diaz seriously as an opponent, it was an
enormous mistake. The fight turned into a brawl quickly, with Diaz
taunting and throwing up his hands even more wildly than he did
against Lawler. As the two fighters traded power punches, the crowd
exploded with enthusiasm. Gomi connected with much harder blows but
Diaz answered with volume punches, and the Japanese star eventually
wilted under the pressure.

In the second round, an exhausted Gomi finally took the fight to
the ground. Diaz immediately locked in the exotic gogoplata
submission and coaxed the tapout. It was the crowning victory of
Diaz’s career, full of drama and capped by a spectacular finish --
until his drug test results were in. Diaz tested positive for a
high amount of marijuana, and the Nevada State Athletic Commission
later elected to switch the result of the bout to a no contest. The
decision was widely criticized, with many arguing that marijuana
simply was not a performance-enhancing drug. Still, the failed drug
test only added to the intrigue surrounding one of the most talked
about fights of 2007.

One Diaz brother is difficult enough to handle. Dealing with two is
an even trickier proposition. After K.J. Noons
defeated Yves Edwards
to retain his EliteXC
lightweight title in his birthplace of Hawaii, Diaz was brought
into the cage as the next challenger for Noons’ championship. Noons
had with him his father, a former professional kickboxer. Diaz had
with him his younger brother, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5
winner Nate Diaz.
With former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg conducting the
post-fight interview, a tag team brawl broke out: the Diaz brother
duo against the father and son Noons tandem.

Tag teams are not particularly well suited for legitimate
competition, but it made for an entertaining spectacle in Hawaii.
After Noons’ father charged the Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate were
escorted from the cage. They left receiving a negative reaction
from the Hawaiian crowd. They proceeded to give the Noonses the
finger and then flashed their middle fingers at the crowd for good
measure.

UFC color commentator Mike Goldberg would not have labeled the
display classy, but it was prototypical Diaz.